New
State Regulations Improve Water Quality, But May Prove Costly

Matthew
Hersh

Gov. James McGreevey enacted what is
viewed by many as the most sweeping effort in 20 years to protect
water quality and preserve drinking water supplies.

The regulations are seen as responsible, but potentially costly
measures to clean stormwater run-off. The costs may prove
a financial hardship for many municipalities, but the burden
on the Princetons isn't anticipated to be onerous.

The
regulations, enacted earlier this month, require municipalities
to adopt and enforce stringent ordinances and stormwater
management plans that will not only ensure an improvement in
the quality of water, but will effectively curb development
sprawl.

They update the state's original stormwater
management rules of 1983.

Eric Wilkinson, policy
director of New Jersey Future, the state's largest smart-growth
advocacy group, said the rules will allow the state to control development
by means other than buying large plots of open space.

"[The
rules] will do a lot to preserve open space," he said.

However,
like any investment, towns must be willing to shoulder some of
the initial capital burden.

"There's
no question this is going to cost money," said George Hawkins, executive
director of the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association. "The rules
themselves take some time to figure out how they work, when they apply,
and who reviews them."

The major component
of the regulations is to minimize the impact of new development
projects by controlling development within a 300-foot buffer around
more than 6,000 miles of high-quality waterways.

This
applies only to areas that have what are called "C1"
waterbodies  the highest form of water quality protection
in the state. Since neither Princeton Borough or Township feature
this classification of waterway, it will not immediately affect
development.

However, some of the environmentally-friendly
ordinances mandated by the regulations are already in place
in the Township and Borough. For instance, feeding non-confined
wildlife in public areas is already prohibited under Township
code. Further, neither the Borough or Township has a C1-classified waterbody,
thus causing no impact on that element of development restriction.

One
of the mandates prohibits towns from washing municipal vehicles
and allowing the water to discharge into storm drains. As a
result, a washing facility that recycles the water is needed.

Township
Engineer Robert Kiser said that preliminary talks between the
two Princeton municipalities have begun for the purpose of
possibly creating a joint facility. He said such a facility
could cost anywhere between $30,000-50,000.

Other
requirements in the state mandates include: the adoption and enforcement
of an ordinance that prohibits non-containerized yard waste to be
placed closer than 10 feet from a storm drain inlet.

The
rules also require monthly sweeping of curbed streets with a speed
limit equal to or less than 35 mph. In addition, towns
must develop roadside erosion control maintenance programs
to identify and stabilize roadside erosion.

Included
in the cost, Mr. Kiser said, is training and educating municipal employees
to execute the regulations on the local level.

The
issue at hand is compliance, the Watershed's Mr. Hawkins said.
He said towns like Princeton Borough and Township should be
able to comply with the regulations rather easily. However,
he expressed concern that municipalities will look at
stormwater quality on a town-by-town basis, and not in a regional
sense.

"A regional stormwater plan would
make so much sense," he said. Without it, he added, "is
like planning for the traffic in your town and not knowing where
it's coming from."